Ba Ria-Vung Tau is the only place in southern Vietnam and Southeast Asia as a whole that hosts the greyhound racing events.

After being introduced into Vietnam by the Sport Entertainment Service Company (SES-VN) the racing has been officially licensed since 2001.

The selected greyhounds belong to a tall and large hunting dog breed from Ireland. A mature greyhound that weighs 22-30kg is imported at a price of nearly US$2,000.

When the greyhound is four-month old and weighs 3-14kg, it starts training  in about five months to join racing events in a period of at least 4 years.

There are about 800 greyhounds at Lam Son stadium, which is used as a race course and training centre for the dogs.

The racing takes place every weekend and lasts for three hours from 19h30-22h30 with 10 laps. Each circuit is 450m long and involves eight dogs that run at a speed of nearly 60km/hour or about 30 seconds per lap on average.

VOV